Merry Christmas

We had another great Christmas. We started by making a birthday cake for Jesus. My kids love doing this every year and it's a great reminder that this holiday isn't all about us and what Santa is going to bring us. It helps the kids remember Jesus Christ and that it's His life we are celebrating. (And they love doing anything that gives them the chance to taste test.) I let them decorate all by themselves. It was fun to watch...Ethan was very interested in making the cake look good and Lauren was all about eating the frosting. He got a little frustrated with her, but all in all, they worked very well together. I love that!

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at Papa & Granny Scouten's. We had a great time visiting with family, looking through old family pictures and playing the Wii. We always enjoy getting together with family. Eventhough we all live close, it seems we only see each other a few times a year. My kids are the youngest grandkids and they eat up all the attention they get from grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins.

Christmas Eve at the Scouten's

Thanks Uncle Troy for the money!!

And what is any gift giving occassion without receiving another Star Wars toy

Yeah....the kids loved the Fisher Price Smart Cycle. They pedaled so fast they broke the pedal in the first 24 hours.

Christmas morning

Christmas is a magical time of year, but I particularly love celebrating Christmas with a baby in our home. It reminds me of our Savior when he was born and the joy that must have filled Mary's heart to hold her newborn baby. We had a great time this year celebrating Katie's first Christmas. She had a great time watching her older brother and sister unwrap their presents while she ate her wrapping paper. She was more interested in the paper than the presents.

Baby Kate's first Christmas!

My girls know what they like.......shoes.

Daddy is having a hard time with this Transformer

Ethan is now opening Katie's presents...she is still preoccupied with wrapping paper

Hope you all had a Merry Christmas!!

Daddy and Katie Giggles

Katie gets so excited each night when Jason comes home. He gets her to go into the cutest laughing fits. Of course, I'm never fast enough with the camera and I only catch the last part. But here are some good Katie giggles. (you need to pause the music on the blog first)

Kindergarten Christmas

Can you tell Ethan is my first born? I tend to get excited about all these "firsts" and take pictures of everything. I often hear Ethan moaning "You're not going to put THIS on the blog, are you?"

So here is Ethan's First Teacher Christmas gift. (Well, not really true...we gave his Preschool teacher a nice gift last year...but I did it all. This year he was involved.) I always love Ethan's artwork...but check out his lovely Christmas card. I asked him about drawing a nice Christmas scene on red or green paper...but he insisted his teacher would LOVE this because it's "girly" (his teacher is female). I am sure he is right.

in LOVE

It's happened again....I have fallen madly in love for the FOURTH time. My little Kate just melts my heart on a daily basis. She is such a happy girl.

Kate is already trying so hard to keep up with her brother and sister. She is now getting up on her hands and knees and starting to rock. She should be crawling soon....eeek! I am not sure I am ready for that stage.

Gingerbread House

We started a family Christmas tradition last year of building a Gingerbread House together. It's the perfect art project because not only do you get to be creative and construct a cute winter wonderland house, but you get to eat it when you're done. (My little Lauren enjoys the latter part of that sentence the most.) This is the mark of the beginning of the Holiday Sugar Rush. Not only are my kids hyper with excitement about Santa coming soon, but it is magnified one hundred times by all the sugar they consume. From our Gingerbread House, to being Mom's official taste-testers while she does the baking for neighbor treats, to the candy canes we seem to collect everywhere we go....we can't seem to escape candy.

School Pictures

As you all know, Ethan started Kindergarten this year which means the beginning of the beloved School Pictures. While some of you may not like School pictures, you must know I love school pictures! I love everything about them: The same background that hasn't changed in 50 years; The same pose they position you in; The same little combs they have available for last minute hair touch-ups; The anticipation and planning of what to wear. It's wonderful nestalgia for me. I can clearly remember those days of getting the picture announcement at school. I'd bring it home and while my parents checked the box of which picture package to buy, I'd run off to my closet and think about what outfit to wear. The next day my girlfriends and I would discuss the clothing options and make the necessary clothing item trades. Finally, picture day would arrive and I'd get up an extra 10 minutes early to make sure I brushed the back of my hair too, and had time to practice a not-so-gummy smile. Another great reason to love Picture Day was because we were excused from class to walk to the gym and chat with friends while standing in line for pictures instead of sitting at our desks doing the dreaded school work. It was always my hope there would be lots of boys in front of me that the photographer would feel compelled to help brush his hair and straighten his shirt. These extra few minutes were priceless to a kid.
I know what some of you are thinking....WAY too much effort for this one simple day/task. I beg to differ, and here is why.... one year I decided not to go through my normal ritual for whatever reason, and just put on whatever I felt like wearing that day, only to discover, after it was too late, that I wore the same sunshine- yellow- velour shirt with sparkley acrylic painted flowers on front TWO YEARS in a row! Oh the horror. Now, I not only have to forever explain why I owned such a shirt, but why I wore it TWICE. It's documented...there's no denying it. Take a look...
Are you done laughing yet?


The best part about school pictures is looking back years later and remembering the times. Whether good or bad, it's a great document of the years past. And in my family, we tend to look back and laugh hysterically at ourselves.
This post would not be complete without sharing my absolute favorite school picture of my big sis Sundee.
Isn't she cute? I think they ran out of the complimentary combs this picture day.

Hip Hip Hooray!!

Drum roll please.....LAUREN IS POTTY TRAINED!! I promised her if she could go a week with no accidents she could take a friend to Build A Bear Workshop. She was very motivated and had great success. She wanted to build a Shrek baby. So last Saturday was the big day. She and her friend Morgan had a great time building their animals. Lauren was a little disappointed when she couldn't build the Shrek baby (they were already built and just for sale), but she quickly found a dinosaur she wanted to build. Her name is Karissa.

Here, Karissa is about to be stuffed.

Karissa just got her heart and is being stitched up.
Morgan and Lauren are giving their animals a bath.
Karissa is wearing Hello Kitty underwear and shirt with pink leggings.
Lauren hugging her Shrek baby and Karissa.
Lauren and Morgan with their animals.
What a big girl you are Lauren. We are so proud of you!!

Kindergarten Art

I just wanted to show off Ethan's artistic talent. I love all the things he brings home from Kindergarten. I was trying to save them all, but decided to take pictures of them and put them in a scrapbook. Here are a few I thought I'd share. Check out his "alligator". Love it!

Tiramasu

Daddy has been craving Tiramasu, his favorite Italian dessert. So, he got a Mormon-afied recipe from Sister Taylor and decided to make it with the kids. They had so much fun. L gave us all a scare when we found her eating the raw eggs by the spoonful...but she survived. The kids love to help, which means they are the official taste testers.